Wizard of the North
by The Winter Wizard
Summary: Now a true Ranger, Will Treaty is sent on his first mission to investigate rumors of a sorcerer in the north. In the books the sorcerer was a fraud, but what if it was a real sorcerer, no wizard, and none other than...Harry Potter?
1. An Unexpected Meeting

**Disclaimer:** Neither Harry Potter nor Ranger's Apprentice belong to me. Both franchise belong to their respective owners, Rowling and Flanagan. I make no money off of this project and no copyright infringement is at all intended. This is merely written for free for mine and, hopefully, my readers' enjoyment.

**A Brief Introduction:** Hi folks!

This is another plot-bunny that was stuck with me for years, ever since I read Ranger's Apprentice and Harry Potter actually. But what with all that has happened to me I never got around to actually writing it. But now I have and I hope to write more although me being who I am, updates will be slow and seem almost non-existent but they should (hopefully) arrive after a while, maybe even sooner if you're in luck.

About this crossover, it's a Harry Potter/Ranger's Apprentice crossover and there most likely will NOT be slash in it although I am not utterly a opposed to the idea of Will getting together with Harry although I prefer straight pairings. As of now, Harry will get together with Evanlyn/Cassandra in the Ranger's Apprentice world since that's where the story takes place in.

Horace won't get together with her since he's a knight and she's a princess. Harry's a wizard though and will save the day, obviously, so that's different and plus, I like Cassie as a character more than the other girls in the RA series so they are most likely gonna be an item (Harry/Cassie). Everything else will be canon though, more or less.

Also, this takes place in the Ranger's Apprentice book called _Sorcerer in the North_ at the time when Will Treaty goes for his first investigation into the forest in search of the infamous sorcerer. He thinks, like Halt, that it will be a fraud but you'll see what happens. As for Harry Potter, this takes place _after_ the entire series and everything is canon except for the Epilogue which didn't happen in this AU.

You'll find out what does happen in the chapter but for now it mentions it briefly so you should get the vague idea. Also, this happens a few years after the series so Harry's had a little more time to train but not much since he's mostly been running and hiding, see the chapter for a slight explanation. But that about wraps things up so without anything more to say and without any further ado I present you with my latest spectacular (hopefully) fanfiction!

**CHAPTER 1:** An Unexpected Meeting

Will Treaty took in a deep breath and struggled to calm himself as he rode through the dark forest. Tug cantered softly beneath him, whinnying soothingly but it did little good. Will's knuckles were still white as his tense grip tightened on his pony's reins.

"It's going to be okay, idiot," He whispered hoarsely to himself. "It's going to be okay."

But truth be told, it _wasn't_ going to be okay.

This was Will's first mission as a fully-fledged Ranger and even though he had been on many dangerous tasks before, none of them had made him as afraid as he was of now.

And why?

It was all because of a legend, a legend about a sorcerer to be exact: A Sorcerer in the North.

Sadly, not even Halt's reassurance that it was probably a hoax spun to get attention and gold by impressing the common people with cheap parlour tricks could help him. He was scared, damn it!

The forest being dark and shrouded in mist without any of the usual night-time noises didn't help either, and the continual clink of Tug's hooves on the ground only made things even more eerie.

Will was half-expecting a wraith in the form of a gigantic knight to burst out of the shadows and warn him to leave if he valued his life, in a deep mysterious voice to boot! A twig snapped and he spun his head around almost like an owl wood.

It was just a false alarm though and Will muttered a curse under his breath.

"Some Ranger you are," Will snorted in derision. "You can easily take down hordes warriors and ugly hybrid creatures but when it comes to the supernatural, the uncertain, you bulk. Halt said it would work out in the end, so it shall. Just. Stop. Worrying!"

Unfortunately for Will no sooner had he said those words than there was a loud sonic boom. Tug reared back, neighing in fright and alarm tossing poor Will from his back.

Dazed and disoriented, Will had barely enough time to raise his arm protectively above his eyes before he was greeted by a flash of bright green light that appeared seconds after the titanic bang that sounded like an explosion.

A strangled gasp escaped his throat and felt his insides clench as a shockwave lashed out from the aura of light. The shockwave blasted him several feet backwards through the air and cut through the tops of several trees like a dull breakfast knife would slice through butter.

After the deafening noise of several trees collapsing and leaves being shredded to nothingness, the light abated, almost as if it withered way and faded into thin air leaving behind the silhouette of...

...a young man!

Will's heart pounded wildly in his chest as he saw the figure hunch over, his back turned to him slightly, his face turned away and shrouded in darkness.

He was dressed in flowing robes and clutched a worn satchel over his shoulder, a strange stick in his right hand. A tiny faint orb of light floated above the stick, and puffs of gray smoke rolled ominously off the stranger.

Will's mind reeled as he was assaulted by fears, doubts, and wonder. Who was this person who had appeared out of thin air? Was Will dreaming or hallucinating? Had he died and gone to hell? Or was this the mysterious sorcerer of the north that everyone spoke of?

He certainly looked the type what with his flowing black robes and the peculiar pointed hat that sat precariously on his head. Suddenly, the stranger spun around and pointed his glowing stick at Will as if it were a sword or some kind of weapon.

Will gulped as the stranger looked up slowly revealing piercing green eyes and messy black hair, making him look even more foreboding like a rugged wild denizen of the forest, untamed and capable of wrecking havoc whenever he pleased without any thought of the consequences that might followed.

"Who are you and where am I?" The stranger said slowly, his voice hoarse and strained but with a certain unmistakable steel to them. "Answer me!"

"Alright, alright," Will squeaked, his voice cracking from anxiety. "I'll tell you who I am if you just put that thing away."

"Not until I determine whether you are friend or foe," The stranger shot back determinedly.

Will swallowed hard and did his best to look unimportant. In seconds, all his Ranger training had been thrown out the window. He could have easily had the man at his mercy but this person was no ordinary stranger, he had magic and had appeared out of thin air for crying out loud!

Not wanting to make anymore enemies, Will relented deciding it best to put the person at ease.

"Fine," He sighed. "My name is Will Treaty and I am a King's Ranger. I hail from the Kingdom of Araluen and have authority over Seacliff Fief. I swear upon everything that is honest and good that I mean you no harm, now can we please can we be civil?"

The steel in the stranger's eyes never wavered. In fact, they seemed to transmute into iron growing colder as every second ticked by.

"There is no promise you can make that I can trust," The stranger growled. "Just during my school years as a youngster, I have been lied to and betrayed far too many times by people I kept in the closest confidence. I saved an entire country from the worst tyrant in known history only to have the people in authority determine that I was too dangerous to keep around so they banished me here, making the common people believe I was a criminal and a murderer although I saved their pathetic arses from the greatest evil known to wizard-kind of all time."

The stranger paused to let it all sink in and catch his breath leaving Will's mind in a whirl. There was no doubt about it now, he had clearly said _wizard_-kind!

"The only way I can believe you is if you take a Wizard's Oath," The stranger continued. "Unfortunately, for that to work we need a witness and I dare say your donkey shan't be able to carry out that part."

To the surprise of all, Tug snorted as if to say he was very much offended at the statement and the ghost of a smirk crossed the stranger's lips. Will stifled a grin of his own at the rather humorous mental image of his trusty Ranger pony acting as a witness for such a dire incident.

Heaving a sigh, he gave himself a mental shake and waited for the stranger to continue. He knew he would hear no end of this from Halt and the others back home, failing at his first real mission only to be at the mercy of the sorcerer he was supposed to investigate!

Sadly, it seemed like there were more important things to deal with at the moment, particularly because the stranger seemed to snap back to reality and was about to speak again.

"But since I am a foreigner in this land," The stranger sighed. "And have seen too much strife and turmoil in my short life, I will give you the benefit of the doubt and I accept your oath. I could use mind magic on you to determine whether or not you are telling the truth but it is one of the most, if not _the_ most, complex of all magicks so I digress. For now, I will accept your word but if you turn on me than so help me Merlin, I will hunt you down and make you rue the day you were born!"

Will gulped at the fire in the young man's words and couldn't help but see that he really, _really_ meant that! He wasn't bluffing or putting up a brave front, he would kill Will or anyone else who stood in his way if it was necessary.

"Don't worry," Will said hastily. "I mean you no harm although there might be some back home who won't take too kindly to your words. As it is I am in a rather tricky situation myself and can't afford to make any more enemies than necessary. With your permission, I'd like to form a temporary truce between you and me and our people until we can figure things out properly. Right now I don't have the time but if you help me with my mission than I there's a good chance I can help you solve your problems."

Will took a deep gulp of air as he finished what was probably the longest most unlikely speech he had ever given in his life. He knew Halt would have a thing or two to say about it but for now, diplomacy was really the only option he had at his disposal.

What he said was true and what with his current mission, he couldn't afford to make any more enemies. And besides, a real sorcerer with real magic might prove extremely useful. Then again, he might just make things all the more complicated.

But who said there couldn't be peace between them even if things did get out of hand eventually? Will watched with bated breath as the stranger mulled over the plan, never once lowering his defensive stance, never once turning his icy gaze away from him.

"Very well," The stranger said at last, causing Will to breathe a quiet sigh of relief. "I agree to your terms and will help you in any way possible. Likewise, it's only fair to exchange names after you so kindly told me yours. In light of that, allow me to properly introduce myself..."

He paused and Will worried that he might go back on his terms. But after a moment of hesitation he continued.

"...My name is Harry Potter and I am a wizard," The stranger replied. "So now tell me, what is it you need help in?"

**TO BE CONTINUED...**

**A/N:** Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave a review and let me know what you think so I can make this even better yet! Many thanks in advance.

**A/N 2:** By the way, there's a quote I copied from one of the Lord of the Rings movies (again, no copyright intended, don't own the franchise, etc.) so see if you can find it!


	2. A Talk by the Fire

**Disclaimer:** Neither _Ranger's Apprentice_ nor _Harry Potter_ belongs to me. I make no money off of this, yada, yada, yada!

**Author's Note:** I'm back! First off, sorry for the delay but this was only gonna be a simple one-shot since it was just a plot-bunny that mercilessly forced me to write it down and post it on this wonderful site. But since I had some time on my hands and felt bad leaving you guys hanging, I decided to continue it. Just a quick word though, I changed my mind and Harry didn't suddenly appear when Will came. It's a big step telling Will all that but he trusts him and is fed up with things. You'll see why. Also, his story sounds a bit far-fetched but I just needed a reason to get him there that was original and made even an ounce of sense, I _hope_. So enough rambling and let's get on with the story!

**CHAPTER 2:** A Talk by the Fire

Will sat and stared, enthralled, as the alleged wizard told of his misadventures in Hogwarts, his life with the Dursleys, and the war against Voldermort. Will didn't know what to believe but he could sense true honesty in the young man's voice and those piercing green eyes seemed a lot sadder and older for someone his age. Besides, what with his own adventures, the other boy's didn't seem so strange. But the concept of _magic_ was still very, very hard to believe!

"So after the war," Harry was saying, after a sip of coffee Will brewed over a hastily-made fire. "Things got pretty intense. The Wizarding government didn't trust me very much since I was powerful enough to defeat the worse enemy they had ever known with such a simple spell. It was then that they revealed their greatest secret."

"I hate secrets," Will muttered dryly.

Harry nodded sadly. "You could say that again. Anyhow, to make a long story short, the Department of Mysteries I told you about turned out to be a fake, a cover-up."

Will wrinkled his brow in confusion.

"I don't understand," He cut in. "You said you went there and those brain-thingies attacked your friend and you got trapped in that Hall of Prophecies that Voldermort wanted."

"Oh Ron got attacked alright," Harry chuckled grimly. "It was as if he was so stupid that all brains everywhere were offended by him and even ones severed from a human head didn't want to be so close to him."

Ron didn't understand why Harry disliked Ron all of a sudden, aside from betraying him in fourth year and ditching him during the Horcuxe Hunt and misusing his position as Prefect. There must be something he wasn't telling him or was about to so he decided to hold his peace and wait. The mental image of Harry's joke was pretty funny though and he allowed himself a grin.

"And Voldermort _did_ ambush us in the room where the Veil of Death was," Harry continued. "But it turned out to be just what I said: A cover-up. Truth be told, it was a Department of Mysteries but not ones of our world."

Suddenly, realization dawned on Will and his eyes widened.

"You mean..." He asked haltingly, hardly able to believe it.

"Yes," Harry affirmed. "The Veil of Death was actually a portal to your world and the brains real brains but cut out from humans from your world in an attempt to study your world."

Will shuddered in horror and Harry grimaced. It was a pretty awful picture but the Ministry had enjoyed taunting him about that one.

"As for the Prophecies," Harry went on. "It turned out none of them were Prophecies aside from that one. They were actually messages in a bottle so to speak, passed on by someone from _your _world. Only, Dumbledore was stupid enough to think they were Prophecies, as was Voldermort and his cronies apparently, since he hid the damn thing in the Hall with the other messages."

"And those were destroyed in the fight," Will sighed.

"Sorry about that," Harry mumbled. "Things were pretty intense and lots of oddities put in there to make it seem like a Department of Mysteries got destroyed also including a cache full of Time-Turners. Say, you don't have time travel in this world do you?"

Will shuddered again although this time feigning horror since time travel was way more confusing than he ever thought possible. Harry smirked but the grin quickly vanished and was replaced by the sad look he previously sported.

"Anyhow," He said. "Basically, the wizards didn't trust me with all the power and popularity after the war especially since many of the wizards and witches were calling for me to be Minister of Magic. The Ministry feared this since there were still many corrupt wizards who were not Death Eaters and they didn't want to be discovered. The whole world would be turned upside down."

"I can imagine," Will breathed.

Harry nodded. "So to make a long story short, they revealed one last secret: The Department of Mysteries was actually designed to learn more about your world they could access through the Veil of Death. Then they snapped my wand and threw me into the Veil. After that I woke up here in the forest and wandered these woods for days."

"But that flash of light..." Will asked in confusion. "And that bang that knocked me off of Tug. Wasn't that you?"

"No," Harry said with a sheepish grin. "I ran into quite a few unsavoury types of characters, huge oafs. Claimed they worked for Lord Keren, Son of Syren, and were hunting down an evil sorcerer. What with my wand gone and no weapon, I was without a means to defend myself to them so I attempted to use wandless magic."

Will felt a thrill of excitement wash through him.

"You mean like that time when your wand triggered to life against the Dementors and later the Death Eaters?" He asked excitedly. "But that could explain all those lights and sounds the locals said to have heard in the woods. Halt and Crowley didn't think there was a real sorcerer but now that you're here..."

"Halt and Crowley?" Harry asked in confusion. "Do I know them?"

"Sorry," Will sighed glumly. "I was just getting so excited with the thought of magic. Truth be told, commoners think we Rangers are sorcerers since we can vanish by use of camouflage, secrecy, and patience. Perhaps at one time one of our kind was a sorcerer and that started the rumour mill but we're no magicians, not like you. Anyhow, you're probably wondering what I'm going on about now."

Harry nodded dumbly and Will chuckled nervously.

"Alright then, here goes nothing," He sighed, and then he told Harry about his own adventures that seemed to pale in comparison to those of The-Boy-Who-Lived.

Even so, Will felt a bit proud as the hero opposite him listened with an impressed look on his face and a tentative gaze. The fire grew cold and died until there were embers and when he finally fell silent, Will shivered.

"And so here I am, looking for the Sorcerer of the North," Will finished, taking a large gulp of cold coffee. "And I think I've found you."

Harry frowned.

"But that doesn't add up," He said. "The locals claimed to see those sights and hear those sounds for a while now and I've only been here for a couple of weeks at the most. Otherwise, I would have found a village or town or something and who knows what would have happened."

"You haven't found the Veil of Death you mentioned?" Will asked.

"No," Harry growled. "Those bastards in the Ministry put a Fidelius Charm on it to prevent me from remembering where it is. Since it was half in my world, it worked. That was also a safe-guard to keep prisoners from this place in the Department of Mysteries, or should I say the Prison Camp of Mysteries."

Will smirked dryly at the name but there was no mirth in his grin. It was obvious that poor Harry had nowhere left to go. He could not return home. It just wasn't possible at the present moment.

For now, he was stuck with Will but if what he said was true about wandless magic he could prove extremely useful and an invaluable ally in his mission and, possibly, the future. Besides, it would be only decent to offer him a place to live until he found his feet. Heaving a sigh, Will licked up the last of the coffee and glanced back at Harry who was staring fiercely into the dying embers.

"You could come and live with me at Redmont when this is all over," He offered. "If you help me out on this mission then I can legally vouch for you and people trust my words back home. If you can display even an ounce of magic it would make your story all the more credible although Halt and Crowley will probably want to keep it a secret so our enemies don't find out about your gift."

"That makes sense," Harry nodded. "Very well, one good turn does merit another I guess and Merlin knows I need something to do around here. There are only so many days I can walk around in this forest for."

"We'll have to come back here eventually to search for the previously-known sorcerer," Will said reluctantly. "But it would be great to have an ally on this venture since I'm all alone on this first mission. Well, I'm supposed to meet up with a couple of insiders eventually but for now I'm on my own."

"Not anymore," Harry grinned. "It would be nice to have a friend and I hope to meet your folks back home when this is all over. They sound like good people and I think I could enjoy this world. One thing I want to do though is learn how to use wandless magic, even if in secret, so that eventually I can attempt to break the charms on the Veil of Death and destroy it so that the Ministry cannot infiltrate your homeland any longer. Who knows what would have happened if Voldermort and his minions discovered the entranceway?"

Will shuddered and quickly agreed, knowing that Harry was right. He'd need his magic after all on this mission and it would be good to have a friend along. Feeling a little better, the two talked a little about friends and family and marvelled at how they could sympathize with each other on that account; what with Harry's parents being killed and Will being an orphan Ward.

But eventually, the stars faded and Will realized it was time to get back to the castle lest he draw suspicion from Orman or Keren. After agreeing to a quick plan, the two put out the fire thoroughly and hastily returned to Will's quarters in the castle. Their story would be simple: Will had gone out for an evening ride with his dog when he found a lost man in the woods, a man who wanted to join Lord Keren as one of his new recruits.

It was a likely enough story and should prove believable enough.

With that plan in mind, the odd group of dog, pony, Ranger, and wizard returned to the castle in high spirits. But while they were leaving, however, a pair of dark eyes trailed after them and vanished as the body belonging to the eyes darted silently through the trees to his master. Something unexpected had happened and soon, things would never be the same again.

**TO BE CONTINUED!**

**A/N:** Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave a review and let me know so that I can make this even better yet!


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